The document discusses effective teaching strategies for English language learners (ELLs). It begins by providing background on the growing ELL population in U.S. schools and the challenges they face in acquiring a new language and academic content. It then discusses how a student's first language proficiency contributes to their second language development. Five effective teaching strategies are outlined: gathering student background information; providing instruction in the student's first language when possible; using comprehensible input; being aware of students' silent period; and understanding stages of second language acquisition. The strategies emphasize the importance of developmentally, culturally and linguistically appropriate instruction for individual ELL students.

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Chen, J. (2015). Effective teaching strategies for facilitating the language
acquisition of English language learners. Idiom, 45(2), 14-16.
Article · January 2015
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2. Idiom • Spring 2015 • Volume 45 Issue 2
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Effective Teaching Strategies for Facilitating the Language Acquisition
of English Language Learners
by Jennifer Chen
English language learners (ELLs) have become the fastest rising segment of the student
population in the U.S. public education system. According to NCES (2014), ELLs grew from an
estimated 4.1 million (or 8.7% of the total public school student population) in 2002–03 to an
estimated 4.4 million (or 9.1% of the total public school student population) in 2011–12. This
growth suggests that nearly one in ten public school students is an ELL. Furthermore, while
sharing similar challenges of acquiring English and a new culture, ELLs are not a homogeneous
group—they come from many corners of the globe, with diverse cultural practices, and speak
many different languages. It was reported that even back in 2000–2001, more than 460 languages
were spoken nationwide by ELLs, with Spanish being spoken by the majority of them (79.2%)
(Kindler, 2002). Learning the academic subjects is challenging enough for many English-
speaking children. It is doubly challenging for ELLs, who must acquire the language skills to
understand the academic content to excel in school.
The Relationship between First and Second Language Development
Research has demonstrated the contributing role that ELLs’ first language proficiency plays in
their development of English and other areas, such as increased English vocabulary scores
(Cummins, 1992) and better social skills and teacher-child relationships when their teachers are
able to communicate with them in their first language (i.e., Spanish—Chang et al., 2007). It is
also beneficial when ELLs are able to transfer concepts and skills acquired in their first language
to learning English (Wong-Fillmore & Valadez, 1986). These findings suggest that when
working with ELLs, the teacher should respect and use their proficiency in their native language
as an asset on which to build culturally and linguistically responsive instruction to help them
acquire English successfully.
Effective Teaching Strategies
Teaching ELLs poses particular challenges for educators. Yet, these challenges also offer
themselves as an opportunity for educators to develop a more expansive repertoire of effective
pedagogical strategies to address the diverse developmental, cultural, and linguistic needs of this
ever-expanding student population. Here, I discuss five of the many effective teaching strategies
to use when working with ELLs:
• The teacher gathers as much information about an ELL as possible from multiple sources
(e.g., the child; his or her family; his or her previous teacher, if any). This basic
information includes the ELL’s home language, culture, and learning needs. The teacher
can then incorporate this knowledge in providing appropriate support.
• In a bilingual or dual language program, the learning environment is already orchestrated
in such a way that it encourages ELLs’ bilingual development. As ELLs’ first language is
also respected as a medium of instruction, a bilingual teacher can readily provide
linguistic assistance in both languages. In a monolingual classroom, however, the teacher
will need to make a concerted effort to recognize, respect, and capitalize on ELLs’
cultural and linguistic knowledge, such as encouraging them to use words in their first
language for what they don’t know in English, and use nonverbal modes of
communication (e.g., drawing, gesturing).

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• It is important for the teacher to provide “comprehensible input” that is understandable to
ELLs (Krashen, 1981), as they acquire a language by hearing it said in a way that they
can understand but cannot yet produce independently. The language input, however, is
more than about word choice; it involves providing complements, such as contextual
cues, visual accompaniments, and elaboration using other words, to make the language
understandable to the learner and provide support beyond his or her current level of
linguistic competence (Krashen, 1981).
• In acquiring a second language, an ELL may go through what Krashen (1985) calls the
“silent period” or the “pre-production” stage, which is a period of time during which the
child is reluctant to communicate verbally with others in the new language, but is
acquiring receptive vocabulary (the language ability to understand what is heard) by
listening to others talk and observing how they interact and converse. This period is
transient, varying in length from a few days to a year, depending on such ELL factors as
personality and socializing experience. The teacher must respect and be patient with an
ELL who is in this phase instead of pushing him or her to talk.
• Tabors and Snow’s (1994) four stages of sequential second language acquisition (Home
Language Use, Nonverbal Period, Telegraphic and Formulaic Speech, and Productive
Language) are useful for understanding the different phases ELLs go through in their
process of acquiring a second language and the variability in the rate at which they do
so. To determine the unique phase and rate a particular ELL is at, a teacher needs to
conduct proper assessments using various tools, including observations. Using this
information, the teacher can better support the learner’s second language acquisition. For
instance, while acknowledging the communicative effort of an ELL in the Home
Language Use phase, the teacher can encourage him or her to use nonverbal modes of
communication as well. When an ELL in the Telegraphic and Formulaic Speech phase
says, “Me go,” the teacher can model the correct production of a complete sentence by
saying, ‘I understand that you want to go to the bathroom. You can say, “I want to go to
the bathroom.’ ”
The rapid growth of ELLs in the U.S. public schools beckons educators to broaden their
pedagogical horizon by developing and implementing responsive, creative, and flexible teaching
strategies to effectively address these students’ diverse learning needs. Examine these five such
strategies for consideration of adoption or adaptation. Importantly, as ELLs are unique in
background characteristics and intellectual capacities, effective teaching requires educators to
apply strategies that are developmentally, culturally, and linguistically appropriate for their
individual ELLs.
References
Chang, F., Crawford, G., Early, D., Bryant, D., Howes, C., Burchinal, M., & Pianta, R.
(2007). Spanish speaking children’s social and language development in pre-kindergarten
classrooms. Journal of Early Education and Development, 18(2), 243–269.
Cummins, J. (1992). Bilingual education and English immersion: The Ramirez report in
theoretical perspective. Bilingual Research Journal: The Journal of the National Association
for Bilingual Education, 16(1–2), 91–104.
Kindler, A. L. (2002). Survey of the states’ limited English proficient students and available
educational programs and services: 2000–2001 summary report. Washington, DC: National

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Clearinghouse for English Language Acquisition and Language Instruction Educational
Programs.
Krashen, S. (1981). Second language acquisition and second language learning. Oxford, UK:
Pergamon Press.
Krashen, S. (1985). The input hypothesis: Issues and implications. London, UK: Longman.
NCES (National Center for Education Statistics). (2014). The condition of education 2014.
Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education.
Tabors, P.O., & Snow, C. (1994). English as a second language in pre-schools. In F. Genesee
(Ed.), Educating second language children: The whole child, the whole curriculum, the whole
community (pp. 103–125). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
Wong-Fillmore, L., & Valadez, C. (1986). Teaching bilingual learners. In M. C. Wittrock (Ed.),
Handbook of research on teaching (pp. 648–685). New York, NY: Macmillan.
Jennifer Chen earned her Ed.D. in human development and psychology from the Harvard
University Graduate School of Education. She is currently an associate professor and the
coordinator of the graduate program in early childhood and family studies at Kean University in
New Jersey, where she has taught numerous preservice and inservice teachers. Her areas of
scholarship include pedagogical practices, first and second language acquisition, child
development and learning, and parenting practices. <jchen@kean.edu>
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